Nobody had to look twice to realize what the1988 Peugeot Oxia concept car was meant to be: A high-performance touring coupe. Spotlighted at the Paris Auto Show, the 1988 Peugeot Oxia concept car looked like it had just been driven in from a race track -- and a race track of the future, at that.

It could have, too, because unlike many prototypes and concept cars, the stunning 1988 Peugeot Oxia concept car was fully operational. And by operational, we're talking about a twin-turbo V-6 churning out a whopping 670 horsepower at an ear-splitting 8200 rpm. Even with all that superpower the Oxia wasn't a bone-shattering racing machine, but a comfortable, well-behaved motorcar.

"Dramatic" barely begins to define the 1988 Peugeot Oxia concept car's sharply angular profile. Wheels were pushed all the way out to the corners of the body, reducing front and rear overhang to a minimum. The short, plunging line of the hood -- led by slatted air intakes -- blended serenely into the vast windshield, with its generous and steeply angled expanse of glass.

The roofline's smooth curve continued rearward to blend at an elegant tangent with the tail. At the rear, a variable aileron looked ready to carry the Oxia off the ground -- perhaps into outer space, or maybe to send it burrowing down into the ground.

No less unique was a view of the car from the top, which showed a body that widened at the rear rather than remaining of similar breadth throughout its length. The cockpit narrowed sharply toward the roof.

It took a bit of squinting but, as interior stylist Paul Bracq pointed out, there was a definite family resemblance between the Peugeot Oxia concept car and real-world Peugeots -- and not just the corporate insignia at the center of the slatted grille.

The 1988 Peugeot Oxia concept car may have looked like it belonged in outer space, and that's where its name came from. Oxia Palus is the name of a region on the planet Mars that happens to be situated at latitude zero and longitude zero: the starting point for geographic measurements. Peugeot's Oxia, described as "making its earthly debut" in Paris, was viewed by some as a starting point for future performance vehicles.

To learn about the design of the 1988 Peugeot Oxia concept car, keep reading.

For more on concept cars and the production models they forecast, check out:

The 1953-1955 Sunbeam Alpine was an open-air Italian roadster that provided flair for Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. Learn more facts and figures and find out what makes the 1953-1955 Sunbeam Alpine such a great collectible car.

The 1963-1964 Chrysler 300J/300K was considered to have the cleanest look of the letter-series 300. It had higher than average performance low-production appeal and was even cheaper than earlier 300s. Learn more about the 1963-1964 Chrysler 300J/300K.